York girls hold off rival Wells for trip to regional final

PORTLAND, Maine — Ruby Cribby handled the situation like someone who'd been in the position before.

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By Mike Zhe

seacoastonline.com

By Mike Zhe

Posted Feb. 22, 2013 at 2:00 AM

By Mike Zhe
Posted Feb. 22, 2013 at 2:00 AM

» Social News

PORTLAND, Maine — Ruby Cribby handled the situation like someone who'd been in the position before.

Probably because she had been.

The second-seeded York High School girls basketball team got all it could handle from upset-minded Wells in the Western Maine Class B semifinals on Thursday. In the end, it was two free throws by Cribby with 6.2 seconds left that stood as the final margin in a 40-38 win at the Cumberland County Civic Center.

"It was close," said the senior guard. "Closer than I thought it would be and closer than I wanted it to be."

Cribby and freshman guard Shannon Todd both scored 13 points for the Wildcats (18-2), who are in the regional championship game for the fourth time in five years. They will play top-seeded Lake Region (18-2) here for the title on Saturday (2 p.m.). The Lakers advanced with a 42-27 win over No. 5 Greely (15-6).

Alison Furness scored a game-high 15 points for the 11th-seeded Warriors, who made people forget about their 7-11 regular season with upset wins in this tournament against No. 6 Gray-New Gloucester and No. 3 Spruce Mountain.

In a back-and-forth game that didn't see either team lead by more than four after the midpoint of the second quarter, they looked to be in good shape for another win after Stephanie Woods hit a jumper to put them up 38-34 with a little under five minutes to go.

"We talked about foul shots and layups," said Wells coach Don Abbott. "That's all we wanted the rest of the game."

The Warriors would get neither — nor anything else.

Emily Campbell, who finished with eight points on a tough shooting day, hit a jumper from the top of the key to get York going again. With a little under two minutes to play, Cribby followed her own miss and tied the game 38-38 with a putback.

"I reminded them that we've been behind in a half-dozen games this year," said York coach Rick Clark. "They know what they have to do and they did what they needed to do to get back into it."

The Wildcats got the ball back with a little over a minute to play after the 6-foot-1 Campbell blocked her third shot of the game. They spread the floor and ran a full minute off the clock, and then called timeout to set up a potential game-winner.

With 6.2 seconds left, Todd spotted Cribby under the hoop and hit her with an inbounds pass. The shot missed but the Warriors were called for a foul, putting Cribby in a situation similar to one she was in during a win against Freeport at midseason.

"I said, 'Ruby, Freeport game,'" said Campbell. "'You've got this. Do what you usually do and they'll go in.'"

She made the first and then, after a Wells timeout, made the second to put the Wildcats up 40-38.

"That's what basketball is about for me, having fun," said Cribby. "So when I got to the line I said, 'This is about having fun and I want to win. There's no way we're going to lose this game.'"

The Warriors still had a chance, connecting on a long inbounds pass and setting up a close-in shot by Nicole Moody, who was fouled with 1.9 seconds left. But Moody missed the first try and had to miss the second on purpose. Sophie Lamb grabbed the offensive rebound but her shot was blocked by York freshman Chloe Smedley as time expired.

No call. Ballgame.

"I'm prejudiced and I'm a long ways away," said Clark, "but it looked like a pretty good (block) to me."

Smedley was in the game because of an ankle injury suffered to forward Marquis MacGlashing (five blocked shots) earlier in the quarter. Clark said she received clearance to play in short spurts but he opted to leave her out.

The final play marked the end of a nifty postseason run for Wells, which lost to York twice during the regular season by an average of 16 points.

"To be able to match wits in the span of 48 hours with (Spruce Mountain coach) Gavin Kane and Rick Clark, two of the big names in our game, it's a pretty neat thing," said Abbott, who has no seniors on his roster. "This is a group that, heading into next season, will think it has something to prove."

Cribby was the spark that ignited the Wildcats in the second quarter. With the Wildcats down 15-7, she sized up a 3-pointer from the top of the key and drained it, giving her team its first basket more than five minutes into the quarter.

She wasn't through. She turned a long outlet pass from MacGlashing into a hoop. Then, after a turnover, she and Todd worked a give-and-go that ended with Cribby scoring inside to cut the lead to 15-14 and prompting Abbott to call timeout.

A pair of 3-pointers by Todd in the final 1:12 of the half sent the Wildcats to the locker room with a 20-19 lead.

Then Cribby provided the finishing touch at the line. Call it a fine line.

"Couldn't have asked for a better matchup," said Cribby. "But we deserved this win and we worked hard for it."

"Great to be going back to the finals," said Campbell. "I haven't been there since my sophomore year so I'm really excited."